South Korea plans to focus on resolving North Korean nuclear issue

South Korea will put the top priority of its inter-Korean policy on resolving North Korea's nuclear issue and promoting bilateral cooperation and exchanges over the next five years, Yonhap News Agency reported Thursday. Unveiling its finalized five-year policy plan, the South Korean Unification Ministry said Seoul will seek sustainable peace based on the trust building and strive to lay the foundation for the eventual unification of the separated countries, according to the report. The 2013-2017 plan outlines the policy objectives of President Park Geun-hye administration, which came to office in February. "Seoul will never allow a nuclear-armed North Korea, and every effort will be made to get the country to give up its weapons of mass destruction program," a ministry official was quoted as saying. Policies will be directed to strike a balance between security and cooperation, with measures taken to get the North to make positive changes, he said. "If conditions become favorable, Seoul can allow the resumption of economic cooperation and fresh investments to the North, though no immediate steps are being taken to lift the ban," the official added. South Korea imposed a blanket ban on all cooperative ties except for existing business activities at the Kaesong Industrial Complex in May 2010, after the sinking of one of its warships in the Yellow Sea by a North Korean submarine that left 46 sailors dead. Reflecting South Korea's willingness to work with the North, the ministry's plan outlines both the expansion of the existing Kaesong factory park that recently reopened after a hiatus of five months and the creation of similar complexes in the North if conditions become favorable. The plan also calls for the construction of a landmark peace park within the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas. South and North Korea are still technically in a state of war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.